A snapshot of developments since Wednesday's attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 died and 11 were injured, in the deadliest attack in France in half a century.

WEDNESDAY, January 7:

- Two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles storm the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly at around 11:30 am (1030 GMT).

- They kill a maintenance man before shooting eight journalists, a police officer protecting cartoonist Charb, and a visitor.

- The attackers climb into a black Citroen and exchange fire with police vehicles, and then coldly execute an injured police officer sprawled on the pavement.

- Following a collision, they abandon their vehicle, hijack another, and flee northwards from Paris, where police lose their trail.

- France raises its alert status for Paris and northern regions to the highest level of "attack alert".

- Anti-terrorist police raid sites in the northeastern towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, acting on forensic evidence and an identity document found in the abandoned car.

- Police say they are hunting three men, including two brothers: Cherif and Said Kouachi, 32 and 34 respectively.

The third man suspected of helping the brothers then turns himself in.

THURSDAY, January 8:

- A policewoman is shot by a man just outside Paris and dies. Authorities do not immediately identify a link with the Charlie Hebdo attack, but say the next day that there is in fact a "connection" between the two shootings.

- The Charlie Hebdo suspects rob a filling station in the northern Aisne region, the owner then calls police.

- Investigators find a dozen Molotov cocktails and two jihadist flags in the getaway car.

- Thousands of security personnel are deployed.

- A US official says the Kouachi brothers have been "on our watch list for years" and that Said had spent a few months training with Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

FRIDAY, January 9:

- Shots are fired during a car chase on the National 2 highway northeast of Paris with two suspects who might be the Kouachi brothers, a police source says.

- The men hijack a car from a woman who says she recognised them as Cherif and Said Kouachi, according to police.

- One person is taken hostage at a printing business near Charles de Gaulle airport, and police swarm the industrial park where it is located. Army and police helicopters swoop down on the site.

- Schools near the building are evacuated, and the interior ministry says that police are trying to "establish contact" with the massacre suspects.

- At least two people are killed and five others taken hostage after a shoot-out at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris involving a man who police said might be linked to the policewoman's murder.

- Schools near the scene hard by the city's ring road are locked down.